


Looking Too Closely

by goldstandard



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: F/M, Some infidelity, ben thinks a lot, light kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-07
Updated: 2015-08-07
Packaged: 2018-04-13 09:15:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4516305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldstandard/pseuds/goldstandard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben and Karen drive back from visiting Fisk's mother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Looking Too Closely

Ben stews over the information they’ve just received. He churns the half-truths and lies over in his mind. They spin a very deep web that he has followed so many times in his career.

His fingers grip the steering wheel, knuckles turning white, and he stares out at the road before them. Karen sits in the passenger seat of his car, a silent ball of energy. She wants to discuss everything Wilson Fisk’s mother just spilled to them. Ben wants to forget it.

Headlights illuminate the asphalt, the trees, the wooden fence running parallel to them. Ben ignores it all in favour of his thoughts. He thinks about Fisk’s mother. She seemed lucid, he should know, but still not altogether there. If what she spoke of was true there was trauma buried under layers of dementia and guilt.

Ben allows his mind to wander to Fisk, to the childish man who recently stepped out into the daylight. The man who possibly murdered his father at a young age; the man who has possibly facilitated the death of so many people in New York. Ben worries at how many pots Fisk has fingers in – how deep the well runs.

Finally, his mind turns to Karen. Sweet, innocent Karen who stings like a wasp. Ben feels responsible for the path she’s leading them down. He was the one who couldn’t let a story go; he was the one who gave her the first few bricks and told her where to pave. Karen was building a dangerous road to hell and Ben was following like an idiot schoolboy.

“I think,” Karen speaks up, her voice excited. “This is the breakthrough we’ve been waiting for.”

Ben doesn’t respond. It is a breakthrough, albeit a weak one. It’s leverage towards something bigger, something more substantial. But in order to use it they would need to piss off a lot of people in all the wrong places. He can’t do that to Doris. He can’t do that Karen or her lawyer friends who are already beating down on the wrong doors.

“This is big,” Karen whispers and to the untrained ear someone could say she sounded hesitant, scared. To Ben she just sounds hushed.

“This is suicide,” Ben finally responds. He’s been here before with too many stories. He’s told Karen of the times he was almost killed, of the times he was afraid for his wife’s life. But this is different. This time, he’s older and maybe a bit wiser. His wife can’t consent to what will definitely involve her. Doris says she wants him to continue being the Ben Urich she fell in love with but they’ve grown so much since that time. Ben can’t keep going on like this.

“We can’t let this go,” Karen tries again, voice warbling with the urgency and thrill of what they’ve learned. “This is important. This proves that Fisk is hiding something big – he killed his father for Christ’s sake!”

Twenty-year-old Ben couldn’t agree more. This is important, it shouldn’t be let go. The Ben of now can’t get involved. He made that decision earlier in the day and continues to stand by it.

“If you don’t let this go,” Ben warns because that’s all he can do at this point. “Fisk will find out and he will go after everything you care about.”

Karen scoffs at his words. It infuriates him so suddenly that he slams on the breaks, swerving into the road’s shoulder. Karen’s squeak of surprise eggs Ben on.

“You treat this like it’s some sort of game,” Ben spits at her, feeling the frown lines in his forehead deepen. “Like you can just hit the reset button if things go wrong.”

“I don’t think that,” Karen cries feebly from her side of the car, patches of red appearing on her cheeks. “I’ve lost people because of this creep and I don’t intend to lose anymore.”

“But you will,” Ben coldly laughs. “You will always lose more than you bargained for because that’s life and you’re stepping on some pretty big toes right now.”

He watches Karen’s face, her body language. She’s turned towards him, chest open, determined expression on her face. Karen won’t back down from this, he knows she won’t, and for a brief moment he’s reminded of the Doris he grew up with, the Doris he fell head over heels in love with.

Karen’s eyes cross as he surges forward and presses his chapped lips against her soft ones. Ben’s eyes shut as his anger melts into her mouth. He feels like a teenager again, too much emotion being poured into something physical, and then he’s pulling back.

“Shit,” he mutters, returning his eyes to the world outside the windshield. Ben smacks the steering wheel and Karen jumps. Trembling fingers are touching her lips, wide eyes burning holes into Ben’s skin.

“I think-“ she says timidly and for once isn’t putting on some sort of show. “I think we should go home.”

Ben nods, doesn’t trust himself to do anything but. Checking his blind spot, he pulls back out onto the road to join the nonexistent cars travelling back into the city.

The silence between them stretches longer than any highway could. Karen sits, slouched, with her thumb and index finger idly picking at her bottom lip, lost in thought.

Another hour and Ben pulls up on the side of the street, about four cars down from Karen’s apartment. She doesn’t hesitate in reaching for the handle, door already swinging open before Ben can get a word in.

“It’s best if I’m no longer involved in this.”

Karen pauses, head tilted down and back towards him to show she’s listening to his words. She gives a short nod and then gets out, slamming the door shut. Ben waits until she’s safely through the front door before he pulls away from the curb.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I wrote a thing.
> 
> There's been ongoing discussion and very open dialogue on tumblr regarding minor characters in Daredevil and the seemingly lack of fic for some of them.
> 
> Anyways, it got my brain thinking and this came out. (I also think I popped the Ben/Karen tag on here which what?)
> 
> So, this was unbeta'ed, banged out in an hour, and I apologize if it's shit. But enjoy anyways, okay?


End file.
